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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Miracles / Wonders
- Published: 07/10/2019
Life Worms.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States.jpeg)
Ted was nervous. Almost shaking. Having your Life Worm read was scary. You can’t hide from your life. You might have moved on, grown, or forgotten, but you left a wake thru time- and it didn’t lie. The Quantum Computing breakthrough back in 2037 led to all kinds of discoveries. Life Worms were just one.
If Dr. Bajaj and Asher hadn’t been searching so hard for echoes of gravitational waves, they might have missed the ripples in TIME caused by individual lives moving through SpaceTime. It was almost by accident that Life Worms were discovered. Dr. Bajaj was using one of the most powerful Quantum Computers ever built to find the trajectories of Gravitational waves rippling thru the Universe.
Asher, who was just a kid back then, just a 20 year old undergrad, wondered if you could set a Quantum computer to look for the Variations in TIME left by the passage of a single lifetime. It turns out that Quantum computers could be set to look for those echoes of your life- faint but distinct. Dr. Bajaj was just trying to appease Asher’s curiosity. Later, she would share the Nobel Prize with him for discovering: “Life Worms.”
Ted knew all that. He was no Q-Nerd. But he did understand the basics. All matter leaves a trace through TIME and SPACE- and SpaceTime. When you map them out they look like those old pictures of rat brains using flourescent Protein Imaging. Taking the flourescent proteins from Jelly Fish, old Scientists were able to invent techniques to see the pathways neurons took when “fired”. Eventually they could trace the path of individual thoughts using different colored proteins made in the lab. They called them: Brain-bows.
Some wizard used a modified technique of that with radioactive tags to trace the movement of bodies through SpaceTime- and that led to Asher asking the Quantum Computer to trace the history of a Life thru Time. Dr. Bajaj programmed the Quantum Computer…and that was it. History was made.
Not only could a single life be examined from birth to death…the entire pathway a unique color and shape, but…every single interaction with another individual was present too. Some LifeWorms had few interactions, or brief ones. Some, like that truly beautiful LifeWorm form that came from taking the dual LifeWorms of Sarah and her Husband David and their sixty two years of marriage- were stunning. Sarah and David’s LifeWorms were so tangled together they looked like French Braided hair in many colors.
It wasn’t long until the Science moved along far enough to match LifeWorm points. No more “he said- she said”. A Life Worm study could not only reveal where, and who, you were with, but the tiny traces of your interaction could be scaled up. Your thoughts and deeds brought to the surface. Lies were exposed, as were truths.
And that, is why Ted was so nervous.
He had agreed to have his Life Worm read to prove he loved his wife, that his fling with that other woman was just that- a fling caused by too much drinking, flaring hormones, and availability. He never thought he would cheat on his wife. He never thought it would hurt this bad…or bring their marriage to court.
She wanted to work thru it…but didn’t think he loved her. There was only one way to prove he made a mistake, that he never stopped loving his wife. Letting the Court exam his Life Worm was his only option.
Love always shows up as a rainbow thread through a Life Worm. Ted’s lit up even brighter than the typical “MOMBow” of infancy. It was clear from the Life Worm Chart, Ted did love his wife, then…and now. Ted sighed with relief. He sagged into his chair with his head in his hands.
“I told you I loved you. I do.”
It was then that they played out the Life Worm of his beloved. Ted grew cold. His wife started to sob.
For there, as clear as any picture could be, was the long green thread of an affair. It had that ugly snot colored green shade that all affairs leave on a Life Worm. Not the sharp green of envy or the cloying green of jealousy. No. It was the snot colored green shade that only comes from long term cheating on someone who loves you.
She bowed her head in shame. For that same snot colored green line on her Life Worm, started and continued on past the single night that Ted had a one night stand. It glowed right up to the present moment.
As with all Life Worms, the people who left tracks on your Life Worm were also named and detailed. It was a common way for adopted people to find their “biological parents”. In this case, it didn’t show a long lost relative.
It showed a snot colored green line intertwined with his wife’s Life Worm. Both snot green lines started just weeks after Ted’s wedding. One belonged to Ted’s wife. The other…to Ted’s elder brother…Vince.
Life Worms don’t lie.
Just the people who weave them.
The Quantum Computer dully noted the end of Ted’s love line in his Life Worm. But Quantum Computers knew all possible pathways…and they knew Ted’s Life Worm had a long way to go. She would be out of his Life Worm soon. His brother was already out. But the echo of the future showed that Ted would love again.
Her name was Becky.
Her Life Worm was already in the Elevator when Ted’s brushed up against hers.
She saw the man stumble into the Elevator. She knew he had just come from a Life Worm Reading. She worked on the First Floor of the disputed memory clinic. She knew that look.
She tapped him gently on the shoulder. He looked up with eyes filled with grief.
“You look like you could use some company and a cup of coffee.”
Ted was not in a good place. But he could tell this was a good person, a kind person. A worried about him person. So he answered:
“I could use a good cup of coffee. I am not sure I am good company right now. I had my Life Worm read…and it cost me a wife and a brother.”
She just reached over and hugged him. The tears came without any effort. He sobbed. She just held on.
When the elevator stopped on the ground floor- the rainbow braid of love was already growing on both their Life Worms.
Twenty years later, that rainbow thread was as thick and glowing as Sarah and David’s…and maybe, with Time, it will be as long.
Life Worms.(Kevin Hughes)
Ted was nervous. Almost shaking. Having your Life Worm read was scary. You can’t hide from your life. You might have moved on, grown, or forgotten, but you left a wake thru time- and it didn’t lie. The Quantum Computing breakthrough back in 2037 led to all kinds of discoveries. Life Worms were just one.
If Dr. Bajaj and Asher hadn’t been searching so hard for echoes of gravitational waves, they might have missed the ripples in TIME caused by individual lives moving through SpaceTime. It was almost by accident that Life Worms were discovered. Dr. Bajaj was using one of the most powerful Quantum Computers ever built to find the trajectories of Gravitational waves rippling thru the Universe.
Asher, who was just a kid back then, just a 20 year old undergrad, wondered if you could set a Quantum computer to look for the Variations in TIME left by the passage of a single lifetime. It turns out that Quantum computers could be set to look for those echoes of your life- faint but distinct. Dr. Bajaj was just trying to appease Asher’s curiosity. Later, she would share the Nobel Prize with him for discovering: “Life Worms.”
Ted knew all that. He was no Q-Nerd. But he did understand the basics. All matter leaves a trace through TIME and SPACE- and SpaceTime. When you map them out they look like those old pictures of rat brains using flourescent Protein Imaging. Taking the flourescent proteins from Jelly Fish, old Scientists were able to invent techniques to see the pathways neurons took when “fired”. Eventually they could trace the path of individual thoughts using different colored proteins made in the lab. They called them: Brain-bows.
Some wizard used a modified technique of that with radioactive tags to trace the movement of bodies through SpaceTime- and that led to Asher asking the Quantum Computer to trace the history of a Life thru Time. Dr. Bajaj programmed the Quantum Computer…and that was it. History was made.
Not only could a single life be examined from birth to death…the entire pathway a unique color and shape, but…every single interaction with another individual was present too. Some LifeWorms had few interactions, or brief ones. Some, like that truly beautiful LifeWorm form that came from taking the dual LifeWorms of Sarah and her Husband David and their sixty two years of marriage- were stunning. Sarah and David’s LifeWorms were so tangled together they looked like French Braided hair in many colors.
It wasn’t long until the Science moved along far enough to match LifeWorm points. No more “he said- she said”. A Life Worm study could not only reveal where, and who, you were with, but the tiny traces of your interaction could be scaled up. Your thoughts and deeds brought to the surface. Lies were exposed, as were truths.
And that, is why Ted was so nervous.
He had agreed to have his Life Worm read to prove he loved his wife, that his fling with that other woman was just that- a fling caused by too much drinking, flaring hormones, and availability. He never thought he would cheat on his wife. He never thought it would hurt this bad…or bring their marriage to court.
She wanted to work thru it…but didn’t think he loved her. There was only one way to prove he made a mistake, that he never stopped loving his wife. Letting the Court exam his Life Worm was his only option.
Love always shows up as a rainbow thread through a Life Worm. Ted’s lit up even brighter than the typical “MOMBow” of infancy. It was clear from the Life Worm Chart, Ted did love his wife, then…and now. Ted sighed with relief. He sagged into his chair with his head in his hands.
“I told you I loved you. I do.”
It was then that they played out the Life Worm of his beloved. Ted grew cold. His wife started to sob.
For there, as clear as any picture could be, was the long green thread of an affair. It had that ugly snot colored green shade that all affairs leave on a Life Worm. Not the sharp green of envy or the cloying green of jealousy. No. It was the snot colored green shade that only comes from long term cheating on someone who loves you.
She bowed her head in shame. For that same snot colored green line on her Life Worm, started and continued on past the single night that Ted had a one night stand. It glowed right up to the present moment.
As with all Life Worms, the people who left tracks on your Life Worm were also named and detailed. It was a common way for adopted people to find their “biological parents”. In this case, it didn’t show a long lost relative.
It showed a snot colored green line intertwined with his wife’s Life Worm. Both snot green lines started just weeks after Ted’s wedding. One belonged to Ted’s wife. The other…to Ted’s elder brother…Vince.
Life Worms don’t lie.
Just the people who weave them.
The Quantum Computer dully noted the end of Ted’s love line in his Life Worm. But Quantum Computers knew all possible pathways…and they knew Ted’s Life Worm had a long way to go. She would be out of his Life Worm soon. His brother was already out. But the echo of the future showed that Ted would love again.
Her name was Becky.
Her Life Worm was already in the Elevator when Ted’s brushed up against hers.
She saw the man stumble into the Elevator. She knew he had just come from a Life Worm Reading. She worked on the First Floor of the disputed memory clinic. She knew that look.
She tapped him gently on the shoulder. He looked up with eyes filled with grief.
“You look like you could use some company and a cup of coffee.”
Ted was not in a good place. But he could tell this was a good person, a kind person. A worried about him person. So he answered:
“I could use a good cup of coffee. I am not sure I am good company right now. I had my Life Worm read…and it cost me a wife and a brother.”
She just reached over and hugged him. The tears came without any effort. He sobbed. She just held on.
When the elevator stopped on the ground floor- the rainbow braid of love was already growing on both their Life Worms.
Twenty years later, that rainbow thread was as thick and glowing as Sarah and David’s…and maybe, with Time, it will be as long.
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Cheryl Ryan
06/04/2024The way you tell the story, one would hardly believe it's a work of fiction. It's so real.
How the future was woven into the story makes it futuristic and a possible research breakthrough for mankind. This will make more sense if research can be done on this life worm and bring it to reality.
Thanks for sharing Kevin. This is a great read!
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Gordon England
05/18/2021Kevin - your writing has increased tremendously since I started reading you. I did not see an obvious grammar problem in your nice sci fi piece. Keep on keeping on
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Kevin Hughes
05/20/2021Aloha Gordon,
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Yep. If I try, I can actually focus enough to proofread and correct most of the punctuation and clunky grammar. A lot of my friends are like you, where they had to write Technical or Academic Papers or reports- as such, they are a stickler for grammar, typos, and style.
As one of my friends said: "Unless you are an Editor or English Teacher, your stories are easy reads. " LOL
Smiles, Kevin
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P.S. Winn
05/16/2021Great story, I wish we all could see those life worms that hand around us.
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Kevin Hughes
05/16/2021Thanks P.S. Winn,
I know, wouldn't that be great to know all the folks you reached and never knew? Or you reached and never knew?
Smiles, Kevin
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JD
05/13/2021A truly award winning masterpiece of science fiction Kevin. Thanks for sharing it with us again via the story pinning feature! :-)
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Kevin Hughes
05/14/2021Thanks JD!
Quantum Mechanics is making this closer to reality ...and maybe not Fiction. LOL
Smiles, Kevin
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Kevin Hughes
07/13/2019Thanks you Aziz,
You always leave kind comments, and I am grateful for that.
Smiles, Kevin
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Gail Moore
07/10/2019Another wonderful story Kevin,
i don’t know if it would be a good or bad thing to have that amount of knowledge.
Love your detail , snot green haha :-)
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Kevin Hughes
07/11/2019Thanks Gail,
I know, I wonder what we would be like if we knew everything? Would we give up? Would we be bored? Or would we play God with others lives?
Smiles, Kevin
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JD
07/10/2019Another incredibly thought provokingly intellectually stimulating science fiction masterpiece with some heartbreak and beautiful healing and romance thrown in for good measure. Superb story with so much more unwritten but yet told/foretold between the lines. Wow! Thanks for another reminder of why I am such a big Kevin Hughes fan! :-)
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JD
08/10/2019I'm glad I was able to chuff you up a bit Kevin. You do a great job of chuffing others, so it is only fair that you get some chuffing too! :-)
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Kevin Hughes
08/05/2019Hey Jd,
I swear you are making it really difficult for me not to develop an Ego. I am grateful for the Story Star of the Day, and again for Story Star of the Week. Your accolades are piling up and I am all chuffed!
Hugs, Kevin
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JD
08/05/2019Congratulations on being selected as one of the Short Story STARS of the Week, and thank you for providing so many front-page-feature-worthy stories, Kevin! :-)
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Ayush Kumar
07/10/2019Beautiful, heart-touching, endearing and yes...Exceptional... sci-fi blend with a story so tender...
This is just amazing. Thanks for sharing Kevin sir.
Regards,
Ayush : D
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Kevin Hughes
07/10/2019Aloha Ayush,
I like blending Science with possible stories...Brain-bow technology has come a long way since that first rat. LOL
Smiles, Kevin
COMMENTS (12)